UCSF workers walk off job; surgeries, health appointments canceled

Hundreds of workers affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off the job at UCSF's Parnassus Avenue medical center on Monday. Union members are protesting the university's proposed contract. less

Hundreds of workers affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off the job at UCSF's Parnassus Avenue medical center on Monday. Union members are ... more

Photo: Sarah Ravani

Photo: Sarah Ravani

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Hundreds of workers affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off the job at UCSF's Parnassus Avenue medical center on Monday. Union members are protesting the university's proposed contract. less

Hundreds of workers affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off the job at UCSF's Parnassus Avenue medical center on Monday. Union members are ... more

Photo: Sarah Ravani

UCSF workers walk off job; surgeries, health appointments canceled

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Thousands of vocational nurses, truck drivers, security guards and other service workers walked off the job at 10 University of California campuses Monday morning, kicking off a planned three-day strike over pay and causing widespread delays in patient care at UC medical centers.

Students still came and went from school, but long lines of picketing employees appeared on streets and sidewalks at and around the universities. On at least one campus, classes were delayed.

Meanwhile, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., announced that she wouldn’t deliver her scheduled commencement speech at UC Berkeley this weekend because of the labor dispute, university officials said.

The biggest disruption was at medical centers, where health care workers were among participants in the protest. Thousands of appointments had to be postponed at UCSF’s Mission Bay and Parnassus Avenue campuses.

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While university administrators were planning to bring in at least 1,000 replacement employees, sympathy strikes set for Tuesday by the California Nurses Union and the University Professional and Technical Employees were expected to complicate matters. In total, the number of striking employees could reach 53,000.

“Our only option again is to strike,” said Kathryn Lybarger, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, whose 25,000 systemwide workers initiated the action. “We are holding the line on some of the last middle-class jobs in California.”

The AFSCME members represent over 15,000 vocational nurses, respiratory therapists and medical technologists across the UC system as well as more than 9,000 janitors, cooks and security guards.

At the Parnassus Avenue campus in San Francisco’s Sunset District, the union members chanted, “Who has the power? We got the power!” as they marched outside the hospital’s emergency room. They wore green shirts bearing their union’s name and waved green inflatable batons as passing motorists honked in support.

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University officials said more than 300 surgeries and 800 cancer patient appointments had been postponed, and all elective procedures were put on hold at the two San Francisco campuses. Emergency medical services remained open, and patients arriving at clinics didn’t report disruptions.

“Today my concern is mostly around patient care,” said Sheila Antrum, senior vice president and chief operating officer of UCSF. “I’m just going to keep on that track and stay focused.”

Officials at UC Davis Medical Center said they rescheduled appointments for 769 patients, including more than 100 cancer examinations and 150 radiology exams.

At UC Santa Cruz, morning classes were canceled until noon because demonstrators were blocking two campus entrances, said Scott Hernandez-Jason, a university spokesman. Afternoon classes were expected to resume.

Both UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley officials said shuttle services were not running during the strike. Instead, city buses, like AC Transit in Berkeley, were providing student transportation.

“So far things seem to be fine. (But) we are in the first few hours of the first day,” said UC Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore.

In Los Angeles, workers had an unexpected scare Monday morning when a man drove into a crowd of picketers near UCLA. Three university employees were treated for minor injuries. The driver was taken into custody, UCLA police said.

AFSCME and university administrators remained at a standstill in contract negotiations. The union rejected the university’s offer of 3 percent annual raises over four years, insisting on pay increases of 6 percent a year.

The employees have also demanded that their health care costs remain flat, their jobs not be contracted to nonunion workers and their retirement age, for pension eligibility, not rise.

University officials say state taxpayers should not be stuck with the bill for better compensation, especially when employees make as much or more than those working similar jobs. Union representatives say they deserve more.

“They’ve been tone deaf to our calls around inequality and stopping the outsourcing,” Lybarger said. “They won’t even say the words inequality and outsourcing.”

She said strikes have been an effective strategy in the past, giving rise to further negotiations and eventually a good deal.

“Striking is a last resort that we’ve been pushed to time and again,” Lybarger said.

Anton Goff, 48, of Hercules, and Andrew Fisher, 58, of Pinole, stood silently across the street from the picket line. In their green protest shirts, they stared as people chanted and yelled while they sipped their tea and coffee and clutched a sign reading “AFSCME 3299 On Strike Secure Future For All.”

The two men are UCSF custodians, Goff for 13 years, and Fisher for 11 years. They said their last raise was nearly four years ago, despite repeated requests for more. They make about $23 an hour.

“We’re just talking a few percent on our salary. It’s just ridiculous,” Fisher said. “It’s difficult. They take care of their doctors. They’re not taking care of the real people.”

Fisher said he has put three kids through college while working at UCSF but had to work construction, landscaping and carpentry jobs on the side.